MILWAUKEE _ Through two quarters, the Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors seemed well on their way to reprising their exciting, down-to-the-wire matchup from Monday night in Toronto.
Then the third quarter started and it quickly became clear that Friday's game was taking a turn in another direction.
The Raptors thoroughly dominated the third quarter, opening up a lead as large as 27 points in that period, then kept up the heat on the way to a 129-110 defeat of the Bucks in their final visit to the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
By any measure, the third period was the Bucks' worst quarter this season. They were outscored, 43-19 _ the 24-point margin their largest of the campaign. Toronto's 43 points were the most allowed by Milwaukee in any quarter this season. The Raptors had three times as many offensive rebounds (six) as the Bucks had total rebounds (two) in that quarter as Toronto owned the glass, 18-2.
After getting Toronto's centers into early foul trouble in the first half by constantly getting into the paint, Milwaukee looked averse to going inside during much of the third quarter. They settled for and missed a bevy of midrange shots then couldn't get stops at the other end as DeMar DeRozan _ who had 52 points in Monday's game but only six in the first half Friday _ got into a rhythm for 14 points in the period.
His contributions weren't nearly as impressive as those of center Jonas Valanciunas, who was limited to 5{ scoreless minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. The Lithuanian big man turned into a mix of Dikembe Mutombo and Shaquille O'Neal, exerting his will on the inside, wagging his finger after a blocked shot and dominating all comers.
By the end of the third, Valanciunas had 20 points and nine rebounds in that period alone as both Bucks centers, first John Henson then Thon Maker, proved powerless to stop him.
Already flailing offensively, the Bucks never recovered against one of the top defenses in the league. It didn't help that Toronto, even with its reserves on the floor, never took its foot off the pedal and Milwaukee's backups proved as powerless as the starters as the Bucks gave up their highest point total in regulation _ just two off what the Raptors scored in overtime on Monday. The Raptors pushed their lead as high as 29 and kept the margin above 20 for the rest of the game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks' leading scorer with 24 points, had just seven in the second half in 14 minutes. Malcolm Brogdon added 19 off the bench and Eric Bledsoe had 17 on 7 of 12 shooting.
DeRozan and Valanciunas each finished with 20 points.
